A SIX-year-old Birmingham girl was today fighting for life after being savaged by three dogs who burst through a fence to attack her in the garden of her home.

Little Shana Wellington is believed to have had an ear torn off by the dogs, which belong to a neighbour.

The terrified child, who was off school because she was ill, had wandered into her garden in Pretoria Road, Bordesley Green, when the dogs struck.

It happened on Monday afternoon after the dogs, reported to be Pitbulls, escaped from their cage next door.

Another neighbour said the dogs' owner had to pull them off Shana watched by her hysterical, screaming mother.

The little girl, said by a doctor to have "terrible" facial injuries, was taken to Heartlands Hospital and then transferred to an intensive care ward in Stoke because no specialist beds were available at Birmingham Children's Hospital.

Today Shana remained critically ill with her family at her bedside.

Neighbours said Shana has Downs Syndrome and lives at the terraced house with her mum, Karlene Bell, and twoyearold sister, Natasha.

One said she heard loud screams as Karlene realised what was happening.

"I heard these unmerciful screeches," said the neighbour, who did not want to be named. "The little girl had a day off school because she was ill and somehow got into the back garden.

"The dogs had broken through the fence where there was just a piece of wood protecting it - they had been going through it for weeks," she claimed.

"When I looked out after the screaming, the dogs' owner was on the ground trying to drag them off. The little girl was lying still on the floor."

The owner of the dogs has not been named and refused to answer the door at his home. He has given permission for the animals to be destroyed.

A spokeswoman for Heartlands Hospital said: "The girl came in at just before 3pm on Monday with terrible facial injuries caused by dog bites.

"She was seriously ill and seen by one of our top consultants, but she needed intensive care. She was driven by ambulance to the nearest children's intensive care unit in Stoke. This was because there were no suitable beds available at the Children's Hospital."

A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said: "The girl suffered severe head injuries. The dogs were seized by the dog warden.

"The owner, who was very distressed, has given his consent for the dogs to be destroyed."